Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 649 - 628: Contest of Power

Li Yuanhe sighed beside him, "You’ve really made it. That’s a leaf from the Mother Tree, and even after you ascend to sainthood, you can enter the Tree-man World with minimal cost. Moreover, you can cultivate under the Mother Tree indefinitely; it’s so luxurious."

Zhou Leng said, "The first time, I took Xu Qingjin. Next time, I’ll take Uncle Li. Just a few days of cultivating there will heal all his injuries and ailments. Then I’ll find time to take you for a few days."

"Thank you so much." Li Yuanhe was overjoyed; to cultivate beneath the Mother Tree, was a privilege most grandmasters couldn’t even dream of.

If he could cultivate there once, he’d be one hundred percent certain to ascend to grandmaster.

The two chatted and laughed on their way back, meeting Xu Qingjin, her mother, and Li Linhan. Li Yuanhe shared this news with Li Linhan.

Zhou Leng glanced at Li Linhan’s demonized limb and handed over a leaf of the Mother Tree, "Uncle Li, I’ll be staying at the research institute to cultivate for the next few days. Keep this with you; it’s great for your health. Return it to me once I leave."

Li Linhan pointed at the wooden jade amulet on his chest, "With this thing, I feel light all over. In another two years, I might even reach the Innate realm! Save the good stuff from the Mother Tree for Xu Qingjin. I’m hoping to hug grandchildren soon. Don’t give it to me; even if you do, I won’t take it."

Xu Qingjin blushed, Zhou Leng and Li Yuanhe exchanged a glance, shaking their heads. The old man was stubborn, just like that.

Zhou Leng took back the Mother Tree leaf and had Xu Qingjin keep it close.

The leaf from the Mother Tree was powerful, but it was far inferior to the Spirit Mist Jade.

Looking at the Spirit Mist Jade, Zhou Leng thought of his own mine and the Jade King.

This time, for the Zhao Family, he planned cold treatment.

Initially not understanding, he later asked Li Linhan to comprehend.

This matter wasn’t just about a single mine.

It involved a group of colossal entities. Punishing the Zhao Family over this would be akin to declaring war on countless powers.

It wasn’t a single family’s mine, nor was it a collective’s, but the mines of the past, present, and future, those belonging to a select few.

To retrieve them was futile; to wait was hopeless.

So, preparations were made for action.

The next day, taking advantage of the night, Zhou Leng departed, entering the world of fierce beasts.

Paying respects to Elder Tree, he gazed at the Gate of Purgatory.

Recently, he had grown weary of learning Divine Literature, even depressed, but his Martial Arts Will needed constant honing.

Thus, he continued with the Gate of Purgatory.

The first layer, Land of Blades, was preliminarily completed.

The second layer, Insect Beast Valley, was too disgusting, and he hadn’t finished it yet.

The third layer, Spring Hall, was reserved for future use.

The fourth layer, Red Lotus Fire Purgatory, had an intensity far exceeding the Land of Blades, and he had yet to pass through it.

He first entered Insect Beast Valley.

Initially, it was all sorts of wild beasts, biting and attacking.

Next, various insects crawled all over, entering his body and consuming him inside out.

But at this moment, Zhou Leng’s Martial Arts Will was steadfast, Mountain of Will as firm as a diamond, immovable.

No matter how disgusting it got, he remained untouched.

Not only that, but he perversely savored the various changes of insects inside his body.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Zhou Leng, still conscious, finished Insect Beast Valley.

Opening his eyes, he lay before the Gate of Purgatory, his face weary.

Successfully passing through the third layer of the Gate of Purgatory.

The view before him became more transparent, his thoughts clearer, his Martial Arts Will solid and improved.

From then on, similar attacks or harm could be more effectively resisted by his Martial Arts Will.

After a brief rest, he skipped the third layer and went straight to the Red Lotus Fire Purgatory.

A second, two seconds...

A hundred seconds, two hundred seconds...

Eight hundred seconds, nine hundred seconds, a thousand seconds. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

His body was reduced to ashes by the Red Lotus Fire Purgatory.

Yet the ashes coalesced into a humanoid shape, sitting cross-legged, motionless like a sand figure.

Body destroyed, spirit remained.

Whoosh...

Divine light descended, and Zhou Leng was thrown out of the Gate of Purgatory.

Looking at the Gate of Purgatory, it indicated the completion of the fourth layer, Red Lotus Fire Purgatory, and he closed his eyes, falling asleep.

He slept for three days and three nights.

Upon waking, his Martial Arts Will ascended another level.

On the waist of the Mountain of Will, a red lotus bloomed, lightly swaying.

The entire Mountain of Will now bore a more profound aura.

After eating some food and stretching his body, he began practicing the "Ten Reversed Beast Fist."

The Ten Reversed Beast Fist was extremely special. In the past, with True Qi, it could be cultivated using True Qi.

Now, with stellar true energy, it could also be practiced, completely unaffected.

Zhou Leng started from the beginning, Establishing Image, Flying Whale, Crouching Snake.

It flowed seamlessly, completing the entire routine.

Rising, his skin was flushed red, with subtle pops in his bones, and muscles beneath resembled coiling serpents, writhing and encircling his body.

The power in his body was being comprehensively adjusted.

His entire physical strength and agility reached unprecedented heights.

The Establishing Image Chapter increased strength, the Flying Whale Chapter boosted explosive power, the Crouching Snake Chapter enhanced muscle control and power storage.

Zhou Leng extended his right hand and took a basketball from the Magic Spirit Bag, holding it aloft.

An extraordinary scene unfolded; his right palm gradually expanded, and the five fingers continuously elongated.

Soon, his right hand grew large enough to grasp the entire basketball, fingers enclosing it like holding a ping pong ball.

Fully gripping the basketball, bone and flesh contracted and expanded.

Subsequently, his right hand slowly shrank back to its original state.

This was different from the Bone Shrinking Skill.

The Bone Shrinking Skill forcefully altered bone positions, reducing external space through their arrangement, without changing the size of muscles and bones.

Bone and flesh contraction could change the size of body tissues.

Zhou Leng hadn’t expected that he could achieve bone and flesh contraction, a feat only possible at the level of a Martial Saint.

The Ten Reversed Beast Fist truly has remarkable effects.

Glancing under the tree, there are no new Golden Pages yet, but there’s no rush.

Once I fully familiarize myself with the Coiling Snake Chapter, new Golden Pages will naturally appear.

After resting for a while, I reviewed the knowledge of Divine Texts and then used the World Instrument to connect with the Little Elf.

In my mind, the World Instrument, like a Celestial Instrument, was slowly rotating.

Zhou Leng’s consciousness entered a space identical to the Divine Literature Academy.

Such powerful Martial Arts Will, yet there’s no sense of virtuality, every feeling is 100% real.

The Little Elf glanced at Zhou Leng and said, "You have quite a few secrets on you. Your Martial Arts Will has improved significantly in such a short time. Since that’s the case, I’ll have to speed up too."

"Don’t."

"Just."

The forty-first year of classes at Divine Text Kindergarten begins.

Five hours later, Zhou Leng fell unconscious and left the World Instrument.

The Little Elf was puzzled.

"He has the aura of the Gate of Purgatory on him, how strange."

"The Gate of Purgatory is a highly advanced Divine Artifact even in High-Level Civilizations. Although it doesn’t reach the ’Great Ring’ level, it should at least be on the ’Great Arc’ level..."

"And it doesn’t seem like a projection..."

A day later, Zhou Leng woke up, muttering the contents of Divine Texts as he walked out.

Reaching the Mammoth Lake Shore, the Tree of Life was thriving, with towering trees over a hundred meters tall, filled with vigorous life force.

Yet, the power was still insufficient.

Exiting the Mammoth Valley, I found the elf and handed over a batch of resources, taking some for myself.

Then, I headed to Mammoth Mountain and met with Huang and Xiaoba.

Xiaoba had already ascended to Grandmaster status, its massive figure, equivalent to five or six stories tall, exuded an imposing presence.

Huang boasted a domineering aura in usual times, but when it saw Zhou Leng, it turned back into a typical rural Chinese yellow dog, always looking like a dog.

Zhou Leng noticed that Huang had also advanced to Grandmaster status but did not reveal it.

After greeting the Mammoth Elder, Zhou Leng joined in the battle.

Over years of development, the Mammoth Tribe has become a top-tier force within tens of thousands of kilometers.

Using the identity of a Middle-Rank Grandmaster, Zhou Leng joined the fight.

Without using the True Qi of the Starry Sky, relying solely on advanced Martial Arts techniques, it was possible to kill ordinary Middle-Rank Fierce Beasts without injury.

However, Middle-Rank Fierce Beasts with Demigod bloodlines were a completely different concept.

They possessed terrifying combat instincts, and once they discovered Zhou Leng’s techniques were too advanced, they would exploit their brute strength advantage, engaging in life-and-death struggles, not giving any chance to showcase techniques.

When facing a Middle-Rank Fierce Beast with Demigod bloodlines, Zhou Leng would still get injured.

During battle, I tested myself against an Upper-Rank Fierce Beast with Demigod bloodlines.

Without using the True Qi of the Starry Sky, I couldn’t compete at all; my strength was overwhelmingly crushed, getting blown away with a single move.

Zhou Leng felt somewhat frustrated.

But the Grandmasters of the Mammoth Tribe shivered.

This savage ape without Demigod bloodlines, how could it be more formidable than those with Demigod bloodlines? Which family’s savage ape could actually kill a Ten-Armed Savage Bear of the same realm with Demigod bloodlines?

Even when the Eight-toothed Mammoth faced it, it was a fifty-fifty situation.

Zhou Leng, however, forgot that the opponents of the Mammoth Tribe were entirely different from the past.

The current main opponents of the Mammoth Tribe were all top forces of the Fierce Beast World, all possessing Demigod bloodlines, some of whose bloodline concentration even exceeded the Eight-toothed Mammoth.

After the great battle, many Eight-toothed Mammoths looked at Zhou Leng, murmuring.

During a break, Xiaoba and Huang came over.

Huang barked and gestured.

Zhou Leng said, "An Elder from the Eight-toothed Mammoth Tribe is about to ascend to Demigod status. Once they ascend, they will challenge the ancestral land, and now they officially invite me to participate?"

Huang and Xiaoba nodded.

This had been mentioned before.

Previously, Zhou Leng had been tormented into a psychological shadow by Xiaoba, and had always been reluctant to join this great battle.

Now, I am a Middle-Rank Grandmaster, and Xiaoba is a Lower-Rank Grandmaster.

"Come on, let’s wrestle." Zhou Leng beckoned to Xiaoba.

Xiaoba excitedly jumped and ran to a distance, about a kilometer away, raising its nose and calling out.

The resting Fierce Beast army’s eyes lit up as they walked over, standing on both sides, watching Zhou Leng and Xiaoba.

Huang bared its teeth at Xiaoba, showing fierce eyes, barking a few times.

Zhou Leng and Xiaoba stared at each other, slightly bowed their heads, lowered their bodies, and stomped the ground fiercely.

One large and one small shadow, breaking through the sound barrier, boomed, as if a civilian drone collided with a military transport plane in the blink of an eye.

A pure clash of power.

Boom!

The air exploded, a small white shockwave swept in all directions, tearing up vast areas of grasslands, with dense leaves and soil flying chaotically.

The ground suddenly shook and violently collapsed.

Both parties flew backward like two rubber balls.

Zhou Leng, being lighter, flew up to the sky.

Xiaoba, being heavier, rolled backward with its huge body, scaring the other Fierce Beasts into fleeing.

Zhou Leng fell to the ground, feeling dizzy, sat for a while before slowly standing up, Huang sticking its tongue out, licked randomly.

"I’m fine." Zhou Leng held Huang, still feeling dizzy.

The severe internal injuries caused by the collision, with bones and internal organs cracked, blood pouring violently, seemed dreadful, but they had already healed.

"Woof woof..." Huang barked.

Zhou Leng knew what it meant and said, "There’s no way. The bodies of Fierce Beasts have innate advantages; a body weighing hundreds of tons has an overwhelming advantage in this kind of impact wrestling... no, wait..."

Zhou Leng roughly calculated, a nearly four-meter-high African elephant weighs about 7 tons, while Xiaoba, standing close to 15 meters tall, had a body density about ten times that of an African elephant, meaning the actual weight...

It couldn’t be calculated precisely, but a rough estimate showed it was around four or five thousand tons.

Comparable to a destroyer crashing at supersonic speed, the kinetic energy carried...